This Star of the Month is one of an ad hoc series on vintage Omega Constellations that, for reasons of originality, condition, or rarity, deserve a special mention in despatches.They can be considered the cream of the crop and ideal reference watches against which others can be matched.

What makes this Star of the month particularly special is the dial and its overall condition. Click here for a photo-essay of this outstanding calibre 354 Constellation.

18 comments:

Gorgeous dial... Rarely see the Connies with a guilloché center and smooth outer rim. I nabbed a cal. 501 Seamaster last month with such a dial (only in black), but that 2782 is truly pristine, very worthy of its star appraisal. Seeing a crisp gold chamfered bezel that hasn't been polished smooth is very eye pleasing as well.

Unfortunately I see no Star of the month watch.The dial is obviously refinished,only one lug is marked correctly instead of two marked lugs as with every gold Connie of that time and inside the caseback the writing says Patend applied instead of Patent applied.I am unhappy to see a Frankenwatch as -Star of the month- .

Nice try Hubert, but you will have to learn more about the variations of Omega vintage Constellations before making such declarative statements as "obviously".

Let me answer the points you raised. Firstly, it is a common variation in case 2782, in cases made the Swiss German case maker Antoine Gerlach SA for the word to be spelled 'patend'. Yes, in many other cases it is patent but Gerlach 2782s have the word patend, as do some others.

The dial is obviously pristine, rather than obviously refinished. Having examined high res pics of this dial, it is clear from the quality of manufacture; the slight embossing of the lettering; the tell-tale MOY test (in this case matching up with the standard: cross hair slightly to the right of the centre O); the absense of print bleeding; the placement and printing of the chapter ring; the quality dots at each marker, I am of the strong opinion that this dial is genuine.

Now, let us talk about the external marks. Swiss ordinances dealing with gold cases require cases to be marked in two places on the external case, not on the lugs. While the vast majority of Omega cases are marked on either diagonal or vertical lugs, some have the second stamp on the case between the lugs, as does this example.

While you did some very good appraising for tell-tale flags of unoriginality Hubert, it is important to not stop there, but evaluate a watch against known variations, and the 2782 is one of the cases with all of the above.

Beautiful..I have a 354 steel case myself - my pride and joy. Only problem is the missing Observatory medallion on the case..and I made the mistake of sending the watch back to Omega for an overhaul, only to find on its return that they had replaced the original arrow, centre ridged hands with flat modern copies. Sacrilege! How can we stop the makers of this fine brand destroying their own vintages??

Thanks for your post. As you say a sacrilege some of the things that Bienne does to vintage watches.

Did they return the old hands? If so, a local and expert watchmaker could return them to their rightful place :)

One option to get a case back with a medallion is to buy an old banger as a parts watch of the same case number. I have several for the purpose of keeping my bumpers running as parts are very hard to find these days.

Yes, it's a tragedy that Bienne takes a refurbishment position with vintage watches rather than a functional restoration perspective. This is the history of Swiss watchmaking entities - they seem to believe that restoring a watch to as near as new is the way to go.

My solution is to project manage my own work and stand over the watchmaker to ensure that only necessary parts replacement happens.

That's a VERY nice example of this exact model i once owned, and in a similiar prestine original condition!

I loved the arrowhead markers and Dolphin hands, and the one i owned had been stored away most of its life. I live in the USA, but the Omega came out of Turkey about 6 years ago, for a then quite princely sum of $1,800 on a leather strap. (18KY)

The main problem for me was that i love to actually wear my watches! I would have DIED if i had ever put the 1st stain or discoloration of any kind on that dial.

Because i have other nice 18K Constellations, i decided to sell it about a year after i bought it, to a collector friend that talked me out of it for $2,500.00 USD about 2007. Worth every penny then, and i wish i had a chance to buy it back! The collector isn't interested in EVER selling that beauty!

Absolutely stunning watch, as the owner of several Omega’s, I would be very happy to have this in my collection, I love all types of Omega, but deep down inside, I suppose I am a “mechanical” fan preferring these to Quartz modelsOmega (in my opinion) are the best manufacturers of watches in the World, I also own several Rolex and find them not to be as accurate as the Omega, and, as you pay equal amount for them,Omega comes out top,I am thinking about purchasing a gold 32 Mhz (yes I know it’s a quartz), will have to see how the old finances are.

Thanks again for such a great site, it must be an absolute pleasure for you to see all these beautiful Omega watches

if your watch is gold capped, might be an idea to trawl ebay and other sites looking for a complete case back. I have seen medallions come up but the die is taken from an original medallion and theyre not up to scratch

I just purchased a (based on this websites data) a 1954 Omega Constellation 354 1954 bumper with the patent applied for case with key#4 Im not sure what the two sets of numbers mean they are 2782 on tip of 2799 with the letters SC next to them the same has f languages about the FIR WASHER IN BACK. the winder is not octagon but more like a 4 leaf clover with the OMEGA logo, Yes there is a small Omega logo on the center of the crystal. I have images but not sure how to load them..

the watch has box papers certification and original receipt and was purchased in 1957 on a military air force base exchange in bermuda buy a military officer.my email is grant.news@aol.com I can email images, I bought the watch today at a garage sale, there was another OMEGA in the box but I didnt have much money on me

The numbers 2782 and 2799 denote which model your watch is. If your dial is a plain dial than the model is a 2782, however if the dial is solid gold (and it's quite obvious when looking at the dial) you have the 2799 De Luxe edition. SC stands for Secondes Centre, or centre second sweep.

Box and papers make the acquisition even sweeter.

It would be nice to have a look at it, and there is a click through email under View My Profile.

Congratulations on your acquisition and I'm glad you were able to glean enough info on the site to make an astute purchase.

I love your website and here in NY (Long Island) its as easy to find vintage watches at yard sales as easy to find a mosquito in the everglades. After I got this connie the next sale a 14K longines, Heading to the Belmore flea market at 4am today, Last time I found a rare 1940's HEUER without the shield made only one year for $200 but sold is for $1200 and a 1959 LeCoultre Deep sea alarm for $100 and sold it for $5000 so its great hunting here in NY. Plus I have been very lucky, the Lecoltre has a rotating name face plate and people who saw the watch before me thought it was broken ( and they are watch collectors) id post images if you can tell me in detail how to.. thanks..Grant

Hi, I have recently rediscovered one of these watches forgotten in a drawer ! It looks exactly like your picture, and the automatic movement works perfectly. Something, however, bothers me : apparently, the mechanism is apparently moving inside the case, like if it was to small for the case, if I shake (gently) the watch. Is this normal for an automatic, or should I have the watch checked by an expert. Thanks for your kind answer. Alain

The movement should be firmly attached to the case by a case screw and a pin that runs into the case from the movement. The other sense of movement you may feel is the rotor oscillating and 'bumping' on to a shock absorbing spring. If the actual movement is moving around the case, I would seek the help of an indepent watchmaker to investigate the issue.

I am a long-term collector of vintage Omega watches with a passion for Omega Constellations of the fifties and sixties. This blog is offered as an educational resource for potential and existing collectors who wish to learn more about the brand and avoid the traps and pitfalls of buying in a global market.